Friday, June 25, 2004, 02:04 GMT
Hi Jordi,
Thanks for answering my question. Imagine being a young Filipino boy in school learning for the first time an alphabet without c, f, j, q, v, x, and z, yet your name is Joaquin Francisco Velasquez de la Cruz! (those other names aren't mine by the way). How would you be able to spell your name without all those necessary letters?? How confusing!
As to your questions, this passage from a website on Tagalog should give you the answers:
Spanish influence
Tagalog was heavily influenced by the Spanish language. Possibly a third of the words in Tagalog are of Spanish origin. A classic example is the Tagalog phrase "Kumusta?" (How are [you]?). This phrase directly came from the Spanish "¿Cómo está (usted)?".
The adoption of Spanish words into Tagalog was so prevalent that Tagalog speakers can now vaguely understand rudimentary Spanish, although do not realize it. This idea has been used effectively in Spanish classes for Filipinos by letting students read a complete essay in Spanish where most of the words are also found in Tagalog.
Majority of the Spanish words adopted into Tagalog were those that referred to foreign concepts such as the names of the days of the week and months, such as "Huwebes" and "Mayo", which came from the Spanish "jueves" (Thursday) and "mayo" (May).
The adoption of Spanish gave rise to the curious phenomenon of two or more words referring to the same concept. For example, the Tagalog word for "chair" is either the native "upuan" or "salampuwit", but the Spanish-based "silya" (from "silla") is prevalent in popular speech. Another example is the Tagalog words for "city": "lunsod" and "siyudad" (from the Spanish "ciudad"). Spanish numbers as opposed to the native Tagalog numbers, are also used frequently, especially in telling the time and in counting money.
The Spanish Empire did not treat the Philippines as a population colony and sent only a few speakers of Spanish. This could be attributed to the enormous distance needed to travel. A greater number of the Spaniards arrived after the opening of the Suez canal. However, certain families have maintained the language and still speak it. Speakers are typically, but not always the elite. Many older people speak it well in Zamboanga (in the southern islands) where the general population still speak a Spanish-based creole.
Thanks for answering my question. Imagine being a young Filipino boy in school learning for the first time an alphabet without c, f, j, q, v, x, and z, yet your name is Joaquin Francisco Velasquez de la Cruz! (those other names aren't mine by the way). How would you be able to spell your name without all those necessary letters?? How confusing!
As to your questions, this passage from a website on Tagalog should give you the answers:
Spanish influence
Tagalog was heavily influenced by the Spanish language. Possibly a third of the words in Tagalog are of Spanish origin. A classic example is the Tagalog phrase "Kumusta?" (How are [you]?). This phrase directly came from the Spanish "¿Cómo está (usted)?".
The adoption of Spanish words into Tagalog was so prevalent that Tagalog speakers can now vaguely understand rudimentary Spanish, although do not realize it. This idea has been used effectively in Spanish classes for Filipinos by letting students read a complete essay in Spanish where most of the words are also found in Tagalog.
Majority of the Spanish words adopted into Tagalog were those that referred to foreign concepts such as the names of the days of the week and months, such as "Huwebes" and "Mayo", which came from the Spanish "jueves" (Thursday) and "mayo" (May).
The adoption of Spanish gave rise to the curious phenomenon of two or more words referring to the same concept. For example, the Tagalog word for "chair" is either the native "upuan" or "salampuwit", but the Spanish-based "silya" (from "silla") is prevalent in popular speech. Another example is the Tagalog words for "city": "lunsod" and "siyudad" (from the Spanish "ciudad"). Spanish numbers as opposed to the native Tagalog numbers, are also used frequently, especially in telling the time and in counting money.
The Spanish Empire did not treat the Philippines as a population colony and sent only a few speakers of Spanish. This could be attributed to the enormous distance needed to travel. A greater number of the Spaniards arrived after the opening of the Suez canal. However, certain families have maintained the language and still speak it. Speakers are typically, but not always the elite. Many older people speak it well in Zamboanga (in the southern islands) where the general population still speak a Spanish-based creole.